Happy Hour: The White Zin Faux-garita

When life hands you lemons, make (spiked) lemonade. When life hands you a move during Hurricane Irene, no internet or TV, and a bottle of white zinfandel, make cocktails and submit your post via iPhone.

A couple of weeks ago, Hairpin commenter scully posed a challenge:

Diana, I have a cocktail challenge for you! Some relatives left me with a bottle of sweet, yuck white zinfandel (NOT lovely dry crisp rosé), and I don’t know what to doooo with it. Obviously I cannot drink it straight, but it occurred to me that it might take the place of something like elderflower or maraschino in a nicely mixed cocktail. HELP if you can/dare!

Believe it or not, white zin can actually make for a good tequila substitute in a margarita (a faux-garita?), giving it lighter, slightly sweeter flavor. If you want yours with a little kick, though (and I did), only substitute out some of the tequila.

I played with — and drank — the ratios a bit. Here’s the one I loved so much that I didn’t even CARE that I haven’t been able to watch Degrassi in two days. Not even a little. And I certainly wouldn’t ask you to tell me what happened in the prom episode in the comments.